Cosumnes river preserve

Owyhee and I spent yesterday evening and much of today at the Consumne River Preserve south of sacramento. I was lured there to see the sand hill cranes that winter in the area. The cranes were amazing - there were hundred, probably thousands, of them scattered throughout the fields. It also was an amazing location for bird photography for just about any type of bird you might expect to find wintering in central calilfornia. It was raining the past few days, but somehow we got lucky and never had a single drop fall on us while we were out and about. The overcast days made for more challenging photography in the low light, but in some ways, I almost often prefer this for birds due to the even, consist light. Here are a few frames...

Sandhill crane in field
Snow geese join the flock

Greater white fronted geese mix with snow geese

red tail hawk

coopers hawk

Owyhee found this green heron and we stalked it for quite a while but never got a clear view. This picture was made through tall grass. The bird almost wasn't visible to the eye, but the shallow depth of field sometimes has the ability to "see through" the brush. After some levels adjustments in photoshop to bring back contrast the result was this somewhat painterly image that some may not care much for, but I thought was fun enough to post here.

Owyhee used my other camera and made some nice images of her own including these...

This one is a little difficult to id, but I'm thinking its an american pipit
Sandhill cranes fly over snow geese